John Ingles highlights some points of interest from this week's October Yearling Sale at Tattersalls.
Top lot for Sea The Stars – the Daryz factor?
While Baaeed and Stradivarius had members of their first crops going through the ring at Tattersalls this week, it was their old man Sea The Stars who was responsible for the week’s top lot. Sea The Stars had more lots than any other stallion in the catalogue, with 35 yearlings due to be sold, and their vendors could hardly have had a better or more timely advertisement for the sire when his son Daryz won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 48 hours before the start of the sale. Whether his success was a factor or not, there was plenty of interest in lot 90 on the first day, a colt out of the Newbury listed winner Crystal Zvezda.
The two biggest buyers of the week were keen to secure him and in this instance it was Godolphin who trumped Amo Racing with a bid of 3.7 million guineas. Crystal Zvezda’s most notable sibling Crystal Ocean was also by Sea The Stars and was a top-class horse (Timeform rating 133) who peaked as a five-year-old for Sir Michael Stoute when his wins included the Prince of Wales’s Stakes along with narrow defeats to Enable in the King George and Japan in the Juddmonte International. Crystal Zvezda is also a half-sister to the Canadian International winner Hillstar and to Crystal Capella (by Sea The Stars’ sire Cape Cross), winner of the Pride Stakes twice and the Princess of Wales’s Stakes.
Aljazzi proving a goldmine
The 2018 Duke of Cambridge Stakes winner Aljazzi is making quite a habit of making headlines at Tattersalls one way or another. Trained by Marco Botti for Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar, when the time came for her to be sold at the end of her racing career that same season, instead of going to the December Mares Sale as most fillies would, her vendors put her in the Horses In Training Sale where she would be more likely to stand out. That was certainly the case as she broke the sale record when selling to Newsells Park Stud for a million guineas.
That considerable investment has brought huge returns at each of the last two October Yearling Sales. Last year, Aljazzi’s Frankel filly, now named Partying and in training with Kevin Philippart de Foy, was the top lot when selling to Amo Racing for 4.4 million guineas. This time, Aljazzi had a colt on offer by the same sire and once again it was Kia Joorabchian’s team who came out on top, with the bidding reaching 3.6 million guineas and leaving Coolmore as the underbidders. The family had produced an earlier Duke of Cambridge winner Running Lion whose Frankel half-brother Runman made a promising winning debut at Salisbury recently.
Selective Juddmonte purchases
Godolphin and Coolmore have long since added to their home-bred stock with some of the best on offer at auction, while Amo Racing’s bid to take on those established superpowers means they too are among the biggest spenders nowadays. Juddmonte, on the other hand, with their high-class broodmare band developed over generations, have long been largely self-sufficient in producing top horses and haven’t needed to go shopping for more talent. That remains largely the case, but things have changed more recently with some selective – and very successful – auction purchases, often supporting their own stallions. They include the 2023 2000 Guineas winner Chaldean (bought for 550,000 guineas as a foal, and by Frankel) and this season’s Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes winner Field of Gold, a son of Kingman also bought as a foal for €530,000 (his Ghaiyyath half-sister was withdrawn from this week’s sale).
Juddmonte made three seven-figure purchases this week, going to 1.5 million guineas for a colt by Frankel who is the first foal out of Pride Stakes winner Ville de Grace. Of the other pair, one is out of a half-sister to Oaks winner Was from the family of New Approach bought for a million guineas, and the other, who made 50,000 guineas more, is from the family of Dewhurst and St James’s Palace winner Grand Lodge. The fact that both those colts were by Night of Thunder was described by Juddmonte’s Simon Mockridge as ‘a bit of a coincidence’, but what isn’t a coincidence is that yearlings by Night of Thunder, who leads this year’s sires’ championship, are in such demand. Amo bought his top lot, a sister to the promising Karl Burke two-year-old Evolutionist who was third in the Fillies’ Mile later in the week, for 1.7 million guineas.
Wootton Bassett popular with big buyers
Given the season he’s having, hot on the heels of Night of Thunder in the sires’ championship, it was a safe bet that Wootton Bassett’s yearlings would be among the most popular this week, all the more so perhaps in the wake of the Coolmore stallion’s untimely death in Australia only weeks earlier. Twelve months ago, Amo set a record for the most expensive yearling colt ever sold in Europe when going to 4.3 million guineas for a son of Wootton Bassett from the same family of Juddmonte’s million-guinea purchase mentioned above. Named Poker, he made an underwhelming debut at Haydock recently but is more of a middle-distance prospect as was King of Steel, Amo’s Champion Stakes winner and Derby runner-up by the same sire.
Besides their big purchase out of Aljazzi, Amo’s other major investments were a pair of Wootton Bassett colts who both made 2.2 million guineas. One of those is a half-brother to Amo’s Beresford Stakes winner Crypto Force and the other is out of the Nell Gwyn winner and 1000 Guineas third Qabala. The latter colt is a half-brother to ‘large P’ three-year-old Raammee who has won both his starts on the all-weather for Roger Varian in the manner of a very promising gelding.
Godolphin were just as keen on yearlings by the late sire too – Wootton Bassett is by Darley’s Iffraaj after all – and had five Wootton Bassetts on their shopping list totalling 3.85 million guineas. The most expensive of those at 1.9 million was a colt from a very successful Juddmonte family. While the dam Time Tunnel didn’t win, she has already produced a couple of above-average winners for Andrew Balding, including Topanga who won a listed race at Baden-Baden last year, while grandam Timepiece won the Falmouth Stakes. Passage of Time, Time Test and Twice Over are other notable family members, along with this season’s Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Cosmic Year.
Shadwell new boys making their mark
Minzaal, the son of Mehmas who won the 2022 Sprint Cup and was also successful in the Gimcrack as a two-year-old, has had some excellent early results with his first yearlings at auction. At Doncaster in August, he had the sale topper when one of his daughters was bought by Shadwell, in whose colours he raced, for £190,000. From a handful of lots at Tattersalls this week, Minzaal’s stand-out representative was another of his daughters who was snapped up by Amo for 550,000 guineas. She’s destined to be a speedy type, maybe even a Royal Ascot filly, as she’s a half-sister to not only the July Cup winner Mill Stream, but also the Richmond Stakes winner Asymmetric.
Shadwell’s other stallion with his first October Sale yearlings was Baaeed who went to stud with the highest Timeform rating (136) for a British-based stallion since Frankel. Amo were again the buyers of one of his more expensive lots, a half-sister to Be Your Best who was a Grade 1 winner in the States this year in the Gamely Stakes. She was bought for 410,000 guineas, but Baaeed’s top lot was secured by Shadwell for 625,000 guineas. That was a colt out of the smart Jim Bolger-trained mare Turret Rocks whose wins included the May Hill Stakes and was placed at Group 1 level in the Prix Marcel Boussac and Pretty Polly Stakes. From the family of Goldikova, Turret Rocks has already produced a colt of note in Jersey Stakes winner Age of Kings.
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